Tokyo

Funabashiya Honten is a famous tempura restaurant in Tokyo that has been around for over 100 years. That’s right 100 years. T had come across the restaurant while researching for things to eat. Getting to Funabashiya Honten is not easy but luckily we had directions from a food blog called Picrumb! As with any popular restaurant a line of customers had formed before the restaurant was even open.

After a 15 minute wait, we were seated at the counter with a clear view of the tempura master who was preparing to cook our meal. T and I opted for a set menu (¥1,875) that came with rice, miso, two kinds of fish, sweet potato, capsicum, eggplant, a prawn and a ball of shrimps. There’s also complimentary unlimited green tea.

The chefs masterfully prepare each item individually with great care – serving each item one at a time.

Each item in the set menu is coated in golden, crisp batter. The skilful cooking of the chefs has allowed the inside to remain soft. There’s not a single trace of oiliness.

One of the more unique items is this ball of shrimps and vegetables coated in batter.

We finish our meals, full and satisfied. The service is impeccable, the food carefully executed and the price reasonable.

Ichiran Ramen is a chain of restaurants famous for its tonkatsu ramen and secret red sauce. For me, it’s one of the best ramen I’ve had. There are several branches in Japan as well as in one in Hong Kong.

Once it’s your turn to enter the restaurant, you’ll be greeted by the sight of a ticket machine. Put your Yen into the machine and select which ramen you want. The machine will spit out your tickets, which you will exchange later at your seats.

At Ichiran Ramen, you won’t find your typical restaurant seats. Instead, everyone has their own little partitioned cubicle. There’s even a chart that shows you which seats are being occupied and which are available.

While you’re waiting, make sure you fill out the preference form for your ramen. You can customise the strength of the soup, amount of ingredients you want and the texture of your noodles.

Now that you’ve sat down at your allocated seat. Press the red button in front of you and place your tickets on top of it. A waiter will take your tickets from the other side and pull down the blinds. There’s a tap for free water if you’re thirsty.

Ichiran Tonkatsu Ramen ¥790 & Boiled Egg ¥100

After a short wait, the blinds will rise, the waiter or waitress bows and your ramen is placed on your table.

The tonkatsu broth is rich but not heavy. The red sauce adds a slight kick to the dish. The home made ramen noodles were shiko, shiko and tsuru, tsuru! Which roughly translated into English mean chewy and smooth. The slices of pork were tender and cooked just right.

Chow Tips: Make sure you slurp your ramen! In other societies, slurping your food is frowned upon. But in Japan, it’s not only polite. It’s the proper way to enjoy ramen.

Finding the Shibuya branch of Ichiran isn’t hard but still will require some navigation. From the station, head to the Zara store and continuing walking past OIOIJAM department store. And then you will see the bright red light – a shining beacon calling out to you. Go down the stairs and you have arrived at ramen heaven. Before you know it, you’ll be slurping some of the best ramen you will eat.

My first meal in Japan was one of my best. After hours of research in Australia, I finally settled on Sushi Zanmai in the Tsukiji Fish Market as the place to try Otoro. Although there are more famous restaurants like Daiwa and Sushi Dai, the ridiculous waiting times of 2+ hours were too long for me.

Sushi Zanmai still had a line but the wait was around 20 minutes. They carry an extensive menu of all kinds of Sushi and Sashimi for a very reasonable price.

If you can opt for a seat at the counter, which T and I did. From the counter, you’re able to watch the sushi chef work his magic, his quick hands forming little works of edible art.

After a quick look over the menu I settled on the Tuna Special (¥1,180), which had 5 pieces of sushi with varying types of tuna, and a Kaisen Don (¥1,480), which is rice topped with a variety of fresh fish and seafood. Like in most Japanese restaurants, there’s free delicious green tea!

After a brief wait, the sushi presented to me an incredible plate of sushi. Starting from the left we have the Tuna Gunkan-maki, which is chopped tuna wrapped around by seaweed. Next we have a seared akami sushi followed by the chūtoro and finally the luxurious ōtoro. I started with the ōtoro because I couldn’t wait to try this renowned cut of tuna. Now, I’ve eaten a lot of different types of food but nothing, absolutely nothing compares to ōtoro. It was MIND BLOWING. When people say the fat melts, it seriously melts like butter. You will never forget the first time you have ōtoro because all other sushi you have from then on pales in comparison. My tongue was dancing from the incredible texture and flavour. After my food-gasm, I moved on to the chūtoro, which was less fatty but still incredibly rich. The next three pieces were all fresh and delicious.

While I was busy having an out of the world tuna experience, the sushi chef was diligently making my Kaisen Don. A huge bowl of sushi rice was topped with a dozen different ingredients including tuna, salmon, prawns, eel, kingfish, egg, squid, salmon roe topped by some chopped okra. Every piece of seafood was exceptionally fresh, which meant the dish required no seasoning at all. The Kaisen Don also comes with a huge bowl of miso soup!